I been to the movies quite a lot recently, and seen Cloud Atlas, Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness. These movies have got me thinking about audiences like me and my Dad, we want something smart, yet with a reasonable pace and a few action sequences, most of all if it is a sequel we want to have a relatively different plot (I'm looking at you Iron Man).There are very few film possibilities that Hollywood haven't explored, Vimes is one of them. Like most of Terry Pratchett's books, it's fun, but it also makes you think a little, and each book in the watch series has a distinctly different plot.

More and more I'm thinking that Hollywood needs Vimes.

(Other possibilities are the long earth, or Stephen Baxter's flood sires (perhaps in 4 parts)

Yes, I wondered about Mackenzie Cook for Nobby (actually, I went a step further and fanarted it, see http://nestofstraightlines.tumblr.com/post/39629665669/watch-tv-series-poster-just-for-pretendies). He's got the right vibe for Nobby, even if he is a bit tall, and can deliver a very funny irritating/endearing performance. As theat drabble demonstrates, I'm a bit obsessed with the Watch TV series idea and what I do when I'm obsessed with something is work out how I would do it (tot he point of a half-formed script) - how you could translate a book that has a whole hierarchy of contexts surrounding it (Watch sub-series - Discworld - comedy - fantasy etc) into an accessible TV show. What's the hook you use to convey the important stuff to the audience? I can't wait to see what they do with the Watch.

But I wouldn't choose a Watch story for a big stand-alone film, for exactly that reason. I'd go for something like Moving Pictures. Actually yes - definitely Moving Pictures. It's parody angle gives people an immediately understandable hook for audiences to be drawn in by, and you can start to build the film version of the Disc on the back of that. The characters are good but not really the focus, so you don't have to worry about taking a few liberties. And the fact that it is parodying and discussing the very medium you're translating it to gives it an immediacy.

Either that or Wyrd Sisters, which happens in a setting that doesn't wear its fantasy elements so obviously on its sleeve. Lancre is a gentle easing into Discworld that A-M because it's kind of folkloric/Shakespearean thing we all have a cultural understanding of without having to get to grips with the wider Discworld. And if you're got the Shakespearean plot going on too, it makes things all the clearer.

Basically, with Discowrld adaptations, I think the grail is accessibility for a new audience!

I was watching ParaNorman the other day (a very good animated film). It;s by the same people that did Coraline, the adaptation of Neil Gaiman's modern fairy tale. A company called Laika. I found myself thinking that Mort would be a perfect marriage of material and aesthetic for Laika.

The might want to take a few liberties (separating the story from the Discworld setting, perhaps) but I can live with that kind of thing for an adaptation that gets the spirit/tone right.